Recap on Spring break athletic trips

Several teams at Albion College including the baseball, softball and women’s lacrosse teams went on spring break trips last week. The baseball and softball team had trips to Florida, while the women’s lacrosse team traveled to California.

These Britons not only got to experience some nice weather early in March, but all went to work and played in competitions against other teams across the country. On the way down to Florida, the Albion baseball team (4-5) had a pit stop in Franklin, Ind. where they played a three-game set and got swept. The winning started as soon as they got to the sunshine state.

The Britons won their first four games after arriving in Florida, beating Wittenberg University (3-5), College of Mount St. Joseph (4-6-1) and Waynesburg University (4-9) twice.

Last year the team struggled with the pitching staff, having a limited number of options with injuries and not much depth. With a bigger pitching staff and having more guys in the bullpen, the competition for spots has been a positive thing for the team.

“The pitching staff this year in one word is DEEP,” Lurie said. “There is no shortage of talent at this position this year, but they are also very young (sophomores and freshman) with only a handful of juniors and seniors.”

During spring break, the women’s lacrosse team played three games, at home against Allegheny College (4-0) and two in the state of California against Whittier College (2-5) and Chapman University (2-6).

They would end up losing all three games during the break but it was a good experience for the team to improve their off the field chemistry. A year after making the MIAA tournament, the Britons are looking to improve from last year and have been playing some quality opponents.

“A concrete goal that we have is to get back to the MIAA tournament,” said head coach Shanta Loecker. “But with nine teams now in our conference playing women’s lacrosse, it’s definitely going to be more challenging.”

The team still remains young, only having five upperclassmen on the roster. The Brits will look after their returning leaders from last year in Ashley Glenn, New Hudson junior and Mackenzie Novak, Waterford junior.

As for the softball team, they also traveled south to the sunshine state in Winter Haven, Fla. They played in nine games during the course of the week and ended up winning one game on the final day.

Just like the women’s lacrosse team, this year’s softball team is also very young, only having two seniors on the team. The Britons did enjoy the experience together and took in a lot from the week they spent in Florida.

“Our games in Florida helped us discover what we need to work on as a team, and where some of our strengths are,” said Alex Yaw, Birmingham senior. “We have come back ready to work hard to be competitive.”

It seems as though all the teams had a good time on their team spring break trips and helped improve the team’s chemistry. Sharing those memories and time together can definitely improve the mentality of each squad and most teams on campus should take this into consideration if they haven’t already.

Caio Orofino is a Junior from Ann Arbor, MI currently studying Mass Media Communications and Economics & Management. He is very passionate about soccer and the University of Michigan's football and basketball teams.
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